Genesee Towers will come to life for Flint Art Walk

(07/08/11) -- The Flint Public Art Project planned something somewhat wacky for Friday's Art Walk in downtown Flint."We're pulling off something that's very uncanny and unique and something that people are going to stop in their tracks," said Jessica Back, Flint Public Art Project producer.

For the first time in 10 years, Genesee Towers will come to life, projecting colored lights and music, while performance artists dance in the windows.

"We're going to have a drag queen, the Fischer Body Burlesque Girls, hula hoopers, someone on the ground level spinning poi, and just movers who are interested in coming and being in the windows and looking fabulous," Back said.

Only the performers will be allowed inside the Towers, and getting approval and waivers from the city to make it happen wasn't easy.

"They asked us lots of questions and had some concerns, but in the end, they wanted to accommodate us," said Stephen Zacks, Flint Public Art Project director.

Bleachers will be set up at street level, and organizers hope spectators leave with new ideas on how the condemned structure might be made useful again in the future.

"There is a kind of magic and a kind of power in re-imagining something that's been abandoned for a long time, and people want to see it thrive in the city, and so do we," Back said.